


Thou And I Are Too Wise To Woo Peaceably

by liseuse



Category: Tam Lin - Pamela Dean
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-20
Updated: 2012-07-20
Packaged: 2017-11-10 13:30:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/466837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liseuse/pseuds/liseuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a much-belated fic that I promised <a href="http://littlebutfierce.dreamwidth.org/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://littlebutfierce.dreamwidth.org/"><b>littlebutfierce</b></a> years ago. All my thanks go to <a href="http://raanve.dreamwidth.org/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://raanve.dreamwidth.org/"></a><b>raanve</b> for the beta. All remaining mistakes are mine, and mine alone. Thanks also go to Shakespeare for the title.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Thou And I Are Too Wise To Woo Peaceably

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paperwar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperwar/gifts).



> This is a much-belated fic that I promised [](http://littlebutfierce.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**littlebutfierce**](http://littlebutfierce.dreamwidth.org/) years ago. All my thanks go to [](http://raanve.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](http://raanve.dreamwidth.org/)**raanve** for the beta. All remaining mistakes are mine, and mine alone. Thanks also go to Shakespeare for the title.

_"Fuck you too, Armin," said Nick, not amiably.  
"Whenever you like," said Robin in the most careless voice he owned. "But it won’t help you a jot."_  
 _Tam Lin_ , p. 186.

It was years later that Janet recalled the overheard conversation, and that Hallowe’en party. She put down her book and turned over in bed to face Thomas. "Do you think Nick and Robin ever fucked?"

"What?" Thomas said, coming out of the world of his book, his eyes refocusing as he adjusted to reality. "Why?"

"I was remembering a conversation I overheard. Freshman year, before that Hallowe’en party Molly, Tina and I threw." Janet reached over to slide Thomas’s glasses off, and lifted herself up so she was directly above him. "Nick and Robin were arguing. But there was something in the tone of Robin’s voice as he answered."

Thomas reached a hand up and slid it into Janet’s hair, drawing it back from her face, and then let his hand gently drift down the side of her neck, chuckling at the full-body shiver she couldn’t hold back. "I saw them kissing in the stacks once." He let his other hand slip down under the covers so he could bring it up under Janet’s t-shirt. "More fighting than kissing, really."

Janet let herself fall down onto her elbows so she could lean in and kiss Thomas. "I can’t really imagine it any other way with those two."

\--

"For fuck’s sake, Armin. I don’t want to talk about it." Nick half-snarled as he grabbed at a copy of _Have With You To Saffron-Walden_ from the shelf behind Robin.

"At this juncture, wanting to talk about it is staggeringly not the point, Nicholas." Robin twisted so his shoulder knocked Nick’s arm back down. "And put that piece of trash down. You hated it the first time around."

"Maybe it’s grown on me." Nick raised an eyebrow and deliberately placed his hand on the shelf behind Robin’s head, blocking him in. He pressed in, just a little closer, so he could feel the heat of Robin’s body through their clothes. "And what business is it of yours, anyway?"

Robin rolled his eyes and moved his hand to the back of Nick’s neck, just resting gently. He let his thumb rub circles just below Nick’s ear. "None," he whispered into Nick’s ear, "but she’ll never let you go again. And you’re not worthy of her."

" _She_ ," Nick said through his teeth, "can go to hell, just for now. And as for _her_ , I think she can make her own decision."

"She doesn’t have all the information," Robin said. "It’s not fair to her."

"So I have to stick to people who know everything then?" Nick said, creeping anger in his voice. "I think that leaves me with you."

"I can handle the consequences," Robin raised an eyebrow. "Can she?"

"Oh, fuck you, Armin." Nick said, moving back. "She’s stronger than you think."

"I hope so." Robin pulled Nick back towards him, crashing their lips together. Nick didn’t hesitate to respond – all teeth and fury. He shoved a leg in between Robin’s and deliberately pushed forwards so the shelves were digging into Robin’s back.

They pulled apart, breathing heavily, and Robin smirked. "We’re in for an interesting year then."

\--

From: J.Carter@cornell.edu  
To: M.DuBois@tamug.edu  
Subject: Robin and Nick

Molly dear,

How is life on the open ocean? If you are excessively busy, or trying to read this over a satellite connection then pay it no heed. It’s full of idle curiosity and mindless busybodying about the past.

I was talking to Thomas last night – he says hello, and to wave to the plankton for him – about Robin and Nick, the erstwhile duo. I was thinking about a conversation I overheard and then Thomas told me he’d seen them kissing in the library stacks one day, at the beginning of our freshman year.

I couldn’t give a hoot about the timing of it, or even if it meant anything, but my curiosity is now boundless. Do you think Nick and Robin ever had sex?

Yours, as ever,  
Janet.

\--

From: M.DuBois@tamug.edu  
To: J.Carter@cornell.edu  
Subject: Robin and Nick

Janet,

Who knew you had such reserves of curiosity within you? It must be all that historical delving into archives – see, I do listen!

Yes, they did. Robin told me. I’ve told him to e-mail you.

The plankton say hello to Thomas, and I say hello to you.

M.x

\--

From: R.Armin@rosetheatre.org.uk  
To: J.Carter@cornell.edu  
CC: M.DuBois@tamug.edu  
Subject: Twin lambs that did frisk i’th sun

(Molly is copied in so she stops haranguing me about sending this email.)

Janet! Your husband’s tendency to rush where angels fear to tread has clearly rubbed off on you. What on earth brought this all to mind? Is it for research? Can I be part of a research project? Could I be A. Nonymous?

Sorry. Apologies. The run of Pericles has just closed. I am sleep-deprived and applause-happy.

Nick and I had sex, once. The winter before you started freshman year. Everything was closing in, and the heat stopped working. The library was full of people, and it seemed like that damn okra soup was all they could find for us to eat. The Classics department bore down on us, and the leadweight of disapproval was all we felt. There really wasn’t much else to do – besides write terrible overwrought gilded poetry and think wistfully of barges and autumn. It did neither of us any good. Nor did it do either of us any harm; feel assured on that point dear Janet.

I think the best way to consider it is to see it as the equivalent of that kiss you shared once with Danny Chin. Long forgotten, except on occasional moments, meaning nothing much, and flittering past the window of time. Nick and my lives run on very different timeframes, remember.

Adieu. Write back with news of terror and frivolity.  
Robin.

\--

"I got the oddest e-mail from Robin today," Thomas called as Janet entered the kitchen and shrugged her jacket off. "He told me to stop telling tales, and to tell you to tell fibs with malice aforethought."

Janet smiled and wrapped her arms around Thomas, leaning her face in the gap between his shoulderblades. "Robin needs to get more sleep."

"There is world enough and time, I am assured," Thomas smiled, and turned round so he could kiss Janet. "You taste of cinnamon."

"There’s a packet of cinnamon cookies in my bag for you." Janet said, and pulled Thomas down into another kiss.


End file.
